UK ceramics set to be 'talk of the world' once more after £120m funding package

It came after GB News shone “a very helpful spotlight” on the industry, with our reports from the factory front lines in Stoke-on-Trent – the spiritual home of the trade.

The Government also unveiled a £350million critical chemicals resilience fund, aimed at supporting “strategically important” producers and sites in the chemicals sector.

Industry and unions welcomed the announcement as a “hugely welcome step” for energy-intensive companies.

Ministers said the funding is designed to help firms stay competitive, modernise infrastructure, decarbonise, and transition their energy supplies from gas to electricity.

GB News has repeatedly highlighted the pressures the ceramics sector was under, with insiders warning us the threat could become “existential” if not addressed.

Rob Flello, head of trade body Ceramics UK, said today’s announcement marked “a turning point”.

He said: “It’s taken a great deal of hard work and intense lobbying, supported by key individuals, including, of course, the very helpful spotlight shone on the needs of our industry by GB News.”

He went on: “This is a turning point for the sector, with the Government taking decisive action that recognises the fundamental role of ceramics in the UK economy.

“It should propel us ahead into the years and the decades to come, and once more make the UK’s ceramic industry the talk of the world.

“With a focus on decarbonisation, it can create investment in new equipment and technology that will champion innovation, while safeguarding jobs and putting the sector on a more sustainable footing for the future.”

The news was welcomed in the Commons by Stoke MPs. Labour’s David Williams, MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, said: “What a day to be a Stokey.”

He said his mother works in the Staffordshire potbanks and had sent him a text as Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the plans.

“It says, ‘nice one, duck’,” Mr Williams told MPs.

Gareth Snell, the Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central who chairs the Ceramics All-Party Parliamentary Group, said: “This is a really big step towards support for a sector that offers so much to this country.”

Ms Reeves in response, vowed to work with sector representatives “to make sure that the ceramics industry does indeed thrive in the UK”.

And Linsey Farnsworth said £120million for ceramics “will make Denby Pottery a more attractive prospect for any potential investors”.

World-renowned Denby said in March that it was planning to appoint administrators.

The Labour MP for Amber Valley asked: “Can the Chancellor please commit to ensuring that funding is available as soon as possible in the hope that Denby can be saved?”

Ms Reeves said: “We are backing UK ceramics. “We want to find a future for Denby.”

Meanwhile, Steve Elliott, chief executive of the Chemical Industries Association, said the £350million in funding announced today was “a very welcome first step”.

But he warned more action was needed.

Mr Elliott wrote to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in March, warning him of the pressures facing the industry.

Mr Elliott said: “The Government rightly included the chemical industry as a key foundational sector in its Industrial Strategy for the country.

“Today’s announcement of a £350million fund to be made available to chemical businesses underpinning our critical national infrastructure and wider resilience is therefore a very welcome first step in turning those words into action.

“Much is needed – both in terms of policy and funding support - to address the industry’s energy, carbon reduction and broader regulatory costs – and the Government’s additional commitment to work in partnership with the industry to tackle those huge competitiveness challenges is also encouraging.”

He said chemical businesses would benefit from the funding pot.

But their raw material suppliers and customers were still “struggling to compete opposite uncompetitive energy, carbon reduction and wider regulatory burden costs”.

“All of this we made clear to the Prime Minister back in March – so this is a welcome first step, but there remains much more to be done,” he said.

Ms Reeves said: “The chemicals and ceramics industries underpin our economic resilience and support skilled jobs across the UK.

“We have the right economic plan. It includes backing those workers, backing the communities that depend on them, and backing British industry for the long term.”

Business Secretary Peter Kyle said: “At a time of global uncertainty, it’s never been more important to ensure Britain’s resilience and back the industries our country depends on, and this funding will support thousands of jobs and put businesses on a secure footing for the long term.

“This is what a strategic state looks like: acting swiftly with targeted support in the national interest and giving certainty to the industries crucial to both our everyday lives and our economic future.”

Charlotte Brumpton-Childs, national officer of the GMB, said the union has been calling on the Government to step up support for energy-intensive industry, adding: “This is a hugely welcome step in the right direction and will be reassuring to workers in our chemicals and ceramics industry that the Government is finally listening.”